LINUXA common attitude among people who believe in free software is to stick it to “the man.”  For some people, that translates into spending a ton of free time porting Linux to devices that were never designed for it. 

This is one of the things that always amazes me when I read about the latest high-tech devices that been modified to run Linux.  Some of these implementations may be incomplete, and I’m not sure why someone would take a brand new device and risk bricking it…

Ok, I lied - I nearly bricked my iPhone last night in the process of updating to the latest firmware version… about a month after a working hack was available.  Something about being the first person to try out the latest hack on a $400 dollar device just doesn’t seem appealing to me.

Here’s a short list of devices that make unlikely with Linux.  Enjoy!

  1. AppleTV:  http://www.mactel-linux.org/wiki/AppleTV
  2. Browser: http://www.workspot.com/screenshots/gimp.html
  3. Gmail: http://www.hackaday.com/2005/04/14/run-linux-on-gmail/
  4. GameCube: http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/04/01/warp_pipe.html
  5. Dreamcast: http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7466555948.html
  6. HTC Smartphones: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Xanadux
  7. iPod: http://ipodlinux.org/Main_Page
  8. Mainframes: http://parisc-linux.org/
  9. Palm PDAs: http://palmtelinux.sourceforge.net/
  10. PS2: http://playstation2-linux.com/
  11. Edit:  MSN TV2 http://www.toc2rta.com/index.php/?q=node/2
  12. PSP: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1906893,00.asp
  13. Edit: JuiceBox:  http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/run_linux_on_a_juicebox.html
  14. Edit:  Mac Classic:  http://mac.linux-m68k.org/
  15. Wii:  http://www.wiili.org/index.php/Main_Page
  16. Windows: http://wubi-installer.org/
    http://goodbye-microsoft.com/ 
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/instlux/
  17. Wireless Routers: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation http://hyperwrt.org/ 
  18. Xbox: http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/linux-install.php 
  19. Xbox360: http://www.free60.org/wiki/Main_Page

Last but not least, a toaster:  http://pics.defcon.org/showphoto.php?photo=53&cat=512

I showed you mine, now you get to show me yours!  What would you like to see running Linux?

Edit… PS3, VirtualPC and USB drives were removed.

Here’s another for you all… Your Mom Can Run Linux: http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-08-03-032-26-OP-DT

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11 Comments to “20 Awesome Devices That Run Linux (But Weren’t Designed To)”

  1. Jack | November 6th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

    My old XBOX made a great MythTV front end. XBMC is also quite awesome.

  2. Adam | November 6th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    I don’t know about you, but I want that toaster.

    -A

  3. Linux Code and More » Blog Archive » 20 Awesome Devices That Run Linux (But Weren’t Designed To) | November 7th, 2007 at 12:09 am

    [...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThis is one of the things that always amazes me when I read about the latest high-tech devices that run been modified to run Linux. Some of these implementations may be incomplete, and I’m not sure why someone would take a brand new … [...]

  4.   20 Awesome Devices That Run Linux (But Weren’t Designed To) by nookli | November 7th, 2007 at 12:34 am

    [...] here for full [...]

  5. Wayne | November 7th, 2007 at 1:44 am

    Oh yeah, I’d take the toaster for SURE.

  6. Alanna | November 7th, 2007 at 2:39 am

    NDS too!

    http://dslinux.org/

  7. Wayne | November 7th, 2007 at 4:45 am

    Good call Alanna.

  8. happylinuxguy | November 7th, 2007 at 10:54 am

    The buffalo linkstation runs on Linux. By default, the command line isn’t accessible, but with a firware flash, you can have a full debian install and do anything you want with it. I have one and verified this works.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_network-attached_storage_series

  9. juka | November 8th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    What about pendrivelinux? Thats one of my favorites!

  10. tim redfern | May 19th, 2008 at 12:08 am

    you forgot the netslug!

    http://www.nslu2-linux.org

  11. Nikesh | May 29th, 2008 at 3:42 am

    Thanks for the list.

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